Tuesday Night New Music

Tuesday Night New Music is a student-run, faculty-supervised concert series that offers the opportunity to hear music by the next generation of composers: current NEC composition students. The series is directed by Katherine Balch '14 Tufts/NEC and Sonnet Swire ’16, under the supervision of composition chair Michael Gandolfi.

I had the opportunity last spring to visit my one and only childhood best friend, Jane, for the first time in ten years. Jane and her mother, Mary, have both been tremendously influential in my artistic endeavors, and now they have something very special in common: they both study the stars: Mary as a brilliant astrologer and Jane as an NYU Gallatin School astronomy student. This piece is both dedicated to their influence and inspired by their shared fascination with our universe. This piece was aptly written over four consecutive late spring evenings in my childhood bedroom with the windows open, letting in the eerie voices of the highway close by. I grew up listening to the night choir of the highway, hearing its melodies and eagerly absorbing its unearthly harmonies, many of which have been incorporated into this piece.

Impresiones en el alma is a piece inspired by a poem in chapter 46 of the second volume of Cervantes´s book Don Quixote (II, XLVI). The piece reflects the conflict, drama, and even madness for love present in this poem. Being my personal philosophy to let the audience freely interpret my music, I do not want to influence any particular way of viewing this work. I will only share that the two contrasting themes intend to reflect the bitter-sweetness, ambiguity, and internal conflict proper of Don Quixote’s irrational love for his fantasized Dulcinea.

This piece is based on a rather potent excerpt from a short story by Karm G. Stelinod: "the peacock princesses are in the pony fortress. the rainbow ponies protect the pony princess district from great swedish octopus." In my own music, I have been trying to achieve (I guess, a slower version) of Stelinod's sense of the broken, yet somehow continuous line.

Are you an NEC faculty member or student who is giving a school concert? Submit your artist and repertoire information now!

NEC's FREE concerts do not require a ticket, unless stated in concert listing.
Unreserved seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Doors open 30 minutes prior to the concert's start time.